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moody_gobling 's review for:
The Queen of the Tearling
by Erika Johansen
Mild spoilers.
The refreshing:
I love a pragmatist, which Kelsea undeniably is. Despite her youth, it was really nice to not have the constant trope of "a young person doing something stupid just because she's young, naïve and full of hormones". Yes, she makes choices rashly, but in the end it turns out that they were the correct ones. I also fully appreciated Kelsea's rage at being female, finding herself cast out of her egalitarian childhood and into a world where she means nothing to nobody, and has to constantly prove herself. It's an apt way to think of womanhood, which she is thrust into without much ceremony.
It was also great to have exposure to a person who was... bigger? Plus sized? who just accepted it as part of their normal life. I appreciate that she was neither obsessed with her body, nor made to be the butt of fat jokes, or fat stereotypes. The same goes for her appearance, described as "plain", "round faced", and "red cheeked" in turns. Kelsea knows who she is and comes to understand how others perceive her, and does not fall down a well of self pity. For the most part, those loyal to her also do not consistently needle this point.
Lastly, I appreciated that there was no romance here. Kelsea is very female, she cares about her appearance, even while pragmatically knowing that there's nothing to do about it, and when a romantic person enters her life, she doesn't change her plans or her self to try and win them. Instead, she has a (so far) unrequited crush, which is probably the only youthful and whimsical thing about her.
My unfavorite parts:
Maybe we were meant to feel Kelsea's frustration towards the start of the book. She certainly did a bit of whining! I was finding myself impatient with the slow revelations of exposition regarding the last ruling monarchs and the "hidden baddie" in the stories. If that's the case, then I can certainly appreciate the Author's goal. I was frustrated, and if I were not on an airplane with nothing else to do, I might have put away the book and not picked it up again. Still, I'm decently glad I stuck with it.
There was one thing about the story that I didn't enjoy- the constant mention of pedophiles. It seemed constant. I'm not sure if the Author was using it as a plot device, or to make people feel outraged and sick and rooting for the good queen to do the right thing, but I found it a pretty cheap way to try and accomplish that.
Over all:
The story provided decent entertainment. I would be interested to hear what Kelsea does next, but I'm not in a big rush to do so.
The refreshing:
I love a pragmatist, which Kelsea undeniably is. Despite her youth, it was really nice to not have the constant trope of "a young person doing something stupid just because she's young, naïve and full of hormones". Yes, she makes choices rashly, but in the end it turns out that they were the correct ones. I also fully appreciated Kelsea's rage at being female, finding herself cast out of her egalitarian childhood and into a world where she means nothing to nobody, and has to constantly prove herself. It's an apt way to think of womanhood, which she is thrust into without much ceremony.
It was also great to have exposure to a person who was... bigger? Plus sized? who just accepted it as part of their normal life. I appreciate that she was neither obsessed with her body, nor made to be the butt of fat jokes, or fat stereotypes. The same goes for her appearance, described as "plain", "round faced", and "red cheeked" in turns. Kelsea knows who she is and comes to understand how others perceive her, and does not fall down a well of self pity. For the most part, those loyal to her also do not consistently needle this point.
Lastly, I appreciated that there was no romance here. Kelsea is very female, she cares about her appearance, even while pragmatically knowing that there's nothing to do about it, and when a romantic person enters her life, she doesn't change her plans or her self to try and win them. Instead, she has a (so far) unrequited crush, which is probably the only youthful and whimsical thing about her.
My unfavorite parts:
Maybe we were meant to feel Kelsea's frustration towards the start of the book. She certainly did a bit of whining! I was finding myself impatient with the slow revelations of exposition regarding the last ruling monarchs and the "hidden baddie" in the stories. If that's the case, then I can certainly appreciate the Author's goal. I was frustrated, and if I were not on an airplane with nothing else to do, I might have put away the book and not picked it up again. Still, I'm decently glad I stuck with it.
There was one thing about the story that I didn't enjoy- the constant mention of pedophiles. It seemed constant. I'm not sure if the Author was using it as a plot device, or to make people feel outraged and sick and rooting for the good queen to do the right thing, but I found it a pretty cheap way to try and accomplish that.
Over all:
The story provided decent entertainment. I would be interested to hear what Kelsea does next, but I'm not in a big rush to do so.